Bowser Goes Down, CSUN Goes Out in 62-58 Defeat

There was good news and bad news Saturday night for Cal State Northridge basketball.

The good news: The Matadors played their best game of the season.

The bad news: It still wasn’t good enough.

CSUN lost its fifth straight, 62-58, to Biola at the Northridge gymnasium in a nonconference game.

“It appears that we’re progressing,” Northridge Coach Pete Cassidy said. “From the first week of the season until now, there has been a definite improvement.”

The most visible improvement came from 6-7 freshman center Todd Bowser, who started his second straight game.

Bowser scored six straight points for Northridge early, when the Matadors took a 10-6 lead. He added four more early in the second half.

Alas, Bowser injured his ankle as he scored his final basket and never returned. He took a pass from the right side of the key, pumped once, sending Biola’s Gary Hook flying, then put up a left-handed shot from the opposite side of the basket. As the ball went in, Bowser fell to the floor, grabbing what most people grab when they turn an ankle--his knee.

“That had me scared,” Cassidy said. “Thank goodness it was only his ankle.”

Bowser, an All-Southern Section selection at Montclair Prep last season, exited the locker room after the game on crutches with a sprained ankle and tried to explain what happened.

“Paul Drecksel said that I landed on his foot. I felt the pain in the ankle right away. Then it jumped to my knee. That’s why I grabbed it. Then it went away and it was my ankle.”

Bowser had 10 points and three rebounds in 17 minutes.

Ray Horwath led the Matadors with 11 points.

Biola (4-0) took a 32-24 lead at halftime and enjoyed a comfortable lead throughout most of the second half. The closest Northridge came was four points when Drecksel hit a layup with two seconds left.

Biola, an NAIA member, has beaten three California Collegiate Athletic Assn. schools. The Eagles also have defeated Cal State Los Angeles and Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Going into Saturday night’s game, Northridge’s biggest concern was stopping Biola’s Johnny Griffin, who was averaging 27 points a game and had scored 34 against Cal State L.A. last week.

“You bet he was a concern,” Cassidy said. “He scored some points, but I think we did a pretty good job on him.”

Griffin, a 6-5 junior forward, was held to just six shots. He made three of them and also hit 6 of 8 from the free-throw line to finish with 12 points.

“People are really keying on him now,” Biola co-Coach Dave Holmquist said. “It’s difficult to score when you’re getting double- and triple-teamed.”

Hook picked up some of the scoring load, throwing in 15 points before fouling out with about five minutes left. Paul Jungkeit added 10 points.

Both teams played even for the first 12 minutes, but the Eagles broke it open in the final minutes of the first half.

After Kennard Moulden hit a shot from inside to give Northridge a 16-15 lead, Biola went on a 12-3 run.

During that period, which spanned from the 8:47 mark until CSUN’s Pat Bolden scored on a follow with 2:56 left in the half, the Matadors committed five turnovers. At one point, Northridge turned the ball over three straight times without getting a shot. When the run was over, Biola had built a 28-19 advantage.

“It was just no concentration,” Cassidy said. “If Biola hadn’t called a timeout at that time, I certainly would have. At that point, we really needed to get ourselves together.”